


Interlude: Family

by hellostarlight20



Series: We Are Never Alone [13]
Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Baby Fic, F/M, Like a long time ago it diverged!, family fic, pregnancy fic, wibbly wobbly-ness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-14
Updated: 2015-10-28
Packaged: 2018-04-26 06:50:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 11,190
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4994413
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hellostarlight20/pseuds/hellostarlight20
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What’s to be and what can never be. Or can it? A little Time + a little Luck + the TARDIS squared, (add in a little jiggery-pokery) and poof! One family friendly pit stop coming right up!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is the story I never intended to write to this series. There are prequels with Nine and Rose but I honestly never intended to write a story with crossing timelines. And I almost didn’t, but the more I resisted, the more I had to tell the story.
> 
>  **This Interlude:**  
>  Takes place after Family’s final chapter  
> is all about Ten x Rose and their family  
> also has Jenny (Doctor’s Daughter) in a starring role  
> Is definitely a marriage fic, pregnancy fic, baby fic, family fic (note the title)  
> Also: Wibbly-Wobbly-ness because there’s also Nine x Rose
> 
> Chapter 1: Plans

“We have plans,” Jack said to the assembled group. He crossed his arms and looked expectantly at them.

“Everyone up to date on the latest?” Martha asked.

The Doctor and Rose were in their private lagoon. It was the only place Rose felt comfortable these days, so close to her (hopeful) due date. Swimming no doubt. He tried not to snicker but also refused to let his mind wander to what they actually did in their little water haven.

It distracted him.

“You had more plans before these?” Jenny asked, somewhat awed. But probably not impressed. More like shocked. People usually were. “How many plans do you have?”

“Currently?” Martha asked and squinted as she no doubt quickly ran through them.

“Four,” Jack supplied. “Currently we have _four_ plans, one for each possible scenario now that we’re not traveling.”

“How many did you have before?” Donna wondered. “I know about the three you crossed out, the Worst Case Trapped on an Alien Planet Scenarios. What about before that?”

Martha shuddered. Jack grimaced.

“You don’t what to know,” he admitted.

They had one for being trapped in the past sans TARDIS or with a powered down TARDIS. Both of which already happened. Seriously, what were the odds of that happening _again_? But neither he nor Martha wanted to take that chance.

They had plans for an incapacitated Doctor or an incapacitated Martha or an incapacitated TARDIS.

Plans where they needed to deal (in a not-so-friendly-way) with UNIT or any other organization—Earth based or not—that wanted a Human-Gallifreyan baby.

Plans where things went horribly wrong…Jack shuddered again and swallowed reflexively. Thinking of those plans felt like a stab through the heart.

“And now?” Jenny asked, her clear voice piercing his thoughts. “We’re thinking of new plans?”

“It’s getting very close to Rose’s due date so it’s time to recheck the equipment,” Martha said.

“I’m not delivering their kid,” Donna protested.

“Not that,” Martha added quickly. Her lips curved upward and she shook her head. “No, either the Doctor or I are always with her and will be until she’s ready. No, what Jack means is the Back-up Plans.”

“You have more than one back-up plan as well?” Jenny tilted her head. 

Damn, she really did look like Rose when she did that. Jack shook his head. They had other things to focus on besides how much of Rose’s DNA transferred from the Doctor’s hand into Jenny.

He knew the Doctor hadn’t scanned her, despite that particular lack of knowledge. He’d taken it on faith and hope. Yeah, hope. Jack liked hope.

“Martha and I have our sonics, Jenny did the Doctor finish yours?”

She proudly held hers up. “Yup,” she said and popped her p just like the Doctor. Jack wondered if that was a learned thing or a natural one.

“Just yesterday. He said he’d show me what the settings were for, but then…” she trailed off, frowned. Then grinned. “We got sidetracked talking about the differences between Old High Gallifreyan for parents and Modern Gallifreyan.”

“Oh the stimulating conversations you lot have,” Donna muttered.

“That’s for later,” Jack interrupted before they deviated on a tangent. “Focus. Now, Donna you have your mobile?”

“Yes.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “And why don’t I have a sonic?”

“Ah…” he faltered.

Because the Doctor didn’t exactly trust her with one. She’d never used his, hadn’t needed to. Had no idea how it worked, let alone was experienced enough to be trusted with one around Rose in labor.

“Because your job isn’t to use a sonic on Rose or anything else,” Martha said gently. “It’s to keep her calm and stay with her.”

Donna narrowed her eyes but nodded, still looking mistrustful. Jack swallowed. He did not want to be the one to tell her no one trusted her with a sonic.

“Dad gave me a mobile,” Jenny said and held hers up. “But I only know you, Grandma Francine, and Aunt Tish. Who else would I call?”

“Numbers are programed in according to necessity not alphabetically,” Jack said in his best military voice. “Francine first—she’ll get the word out.”

Each of them had their own phone tree to follow. And it wouldn’t surprise Jack one damn bit if they were all prepared with their own speed dialed message. Especially Francine, who continued to surprise him with her fierce protectiveness.

She definitely changed from the narrow-minded, protective mother who hated him, hated that Martha traveled with the Doctor, and mistrusted every last one of them. She was still protective, and still fiercely so, but she understood now.

Understood her middle daughter’s need to expand outside her small London neighborhood. Understood all Martha capable of, so much more than a mere doctor, Doctor Martha Jones was _the_ eminent authority on alien biology.

And Francine accepted. All of them but especially him—or especially the fact Martha dated him, lived with him.

“After Francine, call Sarah Jane, then Alistair and Doris, then Harriet Jones. They each know what to do and will meet us at the rendezvous point.”

“Harriet Jones, former Prime Minister,” Jenny injected with a smile. “She’s very nice.”

Martha laughed. A musical sound he never tired of. “Yes, yes she is.”

He looked at her and everything in him softened. During their time together, he’d met others he was attracted to. Unlike every other relationship he ever had or ever played at having, Jack hadn’t done anything about that attraction. Martha meant more to him than a quick tumble.

Enough to start a family with? Yes.  
Enough to ask her to start a family?

Jack swallowed. Wow. Oh wow. Yes. The answer was yes. Until he met Rose and the Doctor, he never thought about long term. Cons and getting back at the Time Agency and, if he was lucky, recovering his memories—sure.

Family? Relationships? _Love?_ Not exactly on his to-do list.

He cleared his throat. Plans and contingencies first. Then a nice sit-down with Martha and a real discussion. Jack swallowed but the anticipatory butterflies never changed to dread and fear.

Huh.

“Isn’t the rendezvous point here?” Donna asked. “Isn’t it the TARDIS?”

“Yes,” Martha said quickly before Jack had the chance to launch into his elaborate plan for that, too. “But remember, this is the back-up contingency plans.”

“Now,” Jack said and cleared his throat. “Top In Case of Emergency numbers are as follows—Martha, me, Donna, Doctor.”

“Why is Dad last?” Jenny frowned. “And why isn’t Mum’s number on the list?”

“Because if it’s an emergency,” Donna said smoothly, “then something happened to Rose and the Doctor is either with her and taking care of her or incapacitated.”

“How will you get to them, then?” Jenny asked, looking around the group.

She looked apprehensive and Jack struggled for words to ease her fears. 

The best he could do was hold out his arm to show Jenny his wristband. “Vortex manipulator. I can jump from wherever I am to where they are so long as one of their phones is on and with them.”

“You really did plan for everything didn’t you flyboy?” Donna asked.

“I’m confident we planned for all contingencies,” he agreed. “Meaning, of course, we can never plan for the Doctor.”

“So we’ve done our best to minimize variables,” Martha added in that same confident voice she used when ordering UNIT about.

Jack ran his hand down his face and admitted, “I’ve never been so grateful as when Rose announced they decided to stop traveling.”

Donna shuddered. “You didn’t see her on Messaline. I thought the Doctor was going to have a heart attack.” She paused. “Hearts.” She shuddered again. “It was awful.”

“I’m sorry I was the cause of that,” Jenny whispered. “I don’t want to ever hurt Mum.”

Donna squeezed her arm. “It wasn’t your fault, Jenny,” she said softly. “None of that was. And I know Rose—she wouldn’t have changed anything. You didn’t see her when that kid wanted to bury you there. When we thought you were…”

She trailed off, shook her head. Donna took a deep breath and said stronger but no less gently. “She’d have done anything for you. Still would. No matter how you came about, Rose is your mum. Noting will change that.”

The tension in Jenny’s shoulders eased and she nodded.

“Outside of the TARDIS,” Martha continued, “one of us stays with Rose at all times, even if the Doctor was with her, too.”

Jack agreed. “If the Doctor is away, and Martha’s at work, we have others who will always be with Rose. She’s not to be alone even if she’s napping in the TARDIS. Francine—” who approved of his many and varied plans—“has volunteered, as have Sarah Jane, Doris, and Harriet.”

Naturally they also all had his and Martha’s numbers on speed dial. And the Doctor’s. Jack didn’t know what Rose said to him to make him actually carry his mobile, but he did now. Everywhere.

Jenny nodded and he couldn’t decide if she took more after her dad or mum. So curious, always asking questions, absorbing knowledge.

Rose, he decided. She took after Rose.

“Martha?” he asked, forcing himself to stay on course. “Is the birthing room ready?”

“Check.” She gave him a cheeky grin and wink. “The TARDIS created the birthing pool according to my own specs,” she assured them. “I used current 21st century and 34th century dimensions and kept it in a room next to the med bay.”

She didn’t say—didn’t have to—that they needed to be close to the med bay just in case. This baby was the first Gallifreyan-Human child ever, so far as any of them knew. No sense taking chances they didn’t need to take.

“Excellent.” Jack nodded. Hoped those precautions weren’t necessary. “Donna, the baby’s room is finished?”

“Oh yes.” Donna nodded decisively. “All the furniture is put together and arranged to how Rose wanted it. The walls are painted and the floor is carpeted.” She stopped and frowned. “Why does the Doctor hate carpets? Like despise them more than…” she paused and finished, “ _pears_.”

Jack sighed. “It’s a domestic thing with him.” He held up his hand. “Don’t ask. It’s better that way. He has a thing against walls, too.”

Donna deliberately looked around. They very clearly stood in a room with walls. “Walls?”

“Jenny,” he said, ignoring Donna’s obvious next question. He turned to Jenny and looked her in the eye. “It’s your job to plan the party for after.”

“Party?” she yelped. “I’ve never planned a patty! What do you mean, _after_?”

“We decided a week after the baby’s born to have a party,” Donna said, walls and carpets forgotten.

The party had been Donna’s idea and her idea to have Jenny plan it. So the other woman didn’t feel left out of her newfound family once the little addition came into this universe. Brilliant idea, if Jack did say so himself.

“We’ll invite everyone, have it here or at Francine’s,” Donna continued, “and give everyone a chance to see the newest Tyler.”

Jenny’s face flushed and her mouth opened in a little _O_. But no sound emerged. “A party.” She nodded slowly then more decisively. “Yes. Yes I like that idea.”

“Are we inviting your gramps and mum?” Martha asked.

Donna shifted uncomfortably. “Gramps, maybe,” she finally mumbled. “Not so sure about Mum. She wouldn’t understand.”

Jack nodded. “This life isn’t for everyone.” He clapped his hands, mentally reviewing his list. “Mobiles, soncis, places, times. I’m forgetting something. What am I forgetting?”

Martha sighed and slipped her hand around his arm, leaned her chin on his bicep. “The Doctor. No matter how good your plans are, love, you can never account for the Doctor.”

He laughed. “True.” Jack kissed her forehead, mind still racing. “Very true.”

He also couldn’t account for Time Ripples or disappearing stars. They didn’t just make him nervous. They scared the life out of him. _Something_ was coming and it was entirely too nebulous to make him remotely comfortable.

It lurked and crept and slithered along. _Something_ continued to morph over them.

The Doctor told him and Martha of Keisha’s observations about Jenny. Martha looked ashen—not only over worry and fear for her niece. Because she had dreams. Terrible dreams about burning cities—burning countries. And death. So much death they stopped counting.

His dreams involved dying. Always dying. And that frantic moment when he awoke, gasping for breath, mind scrambling to make sense out of what happened. He almost strangled Martha a few nights and so now slept on a couch the TARDIS provided for their room.

Jack dreamt of a man, tall, thin, utterly mad. A man who liked to torture him and kill him. Repeatedly.

He didn’t like being away from Martha but it was better he dreamt elsewhere. Jack hated that he hurt her, even if he hadn’t done it on purpose. Or known he did so at the time. But he was more afraid of doing so again—of not fully waking before Martha stopped him.

Needless to say, he didn’t get much sleep.

He shuddered now, shoved the memories-dreams-nightmares aside. Swallowed bile. Gave himself another moment to collect his thoughts and persona. Martha squeezed his arm. She always saw right through him.

What if everything changed? None of them understood the Ripples, what they meant, where they originated. If they were portents of things to come or of changes already made…

Or worse.

And the stars. No matter what the Doctor scanned, who he consulted across the universe, no one had any answers.

Jack ran a hand over his face. One thing at a time. Rose’s labor. Then they could go back to worrying about the fate of the universe.

 ********  
Rose kissed him, slow and languid. He tangled his fingers in her hair and angled his head to deepen the kiss, feel the heat of her mouth, the sweep of her tongue.

They bobbed in their private lagoon, completely cut off from the rest of the universe. Set off from the TARDIS’s main gardens, it remained hidden enough that the rest of their family couldn’t find it no matter how they looked.

Unless of an emergency.

The Doctor promised Jack to keep the intercom system permanently activated. Jack’s constant worry about Rose and the baby was eclipsed only by his own.

“Rose,” he sighed against her skin, wet and slick from the water and earlier when they made love.

She smiled, beautiful and human and fertile and so very Rose. The Doctor slid his hands over her naked belly, lush and heavy with his unborn daughter. Said daughter kicked and rolled against his fingers and the Doctor pulled back, grinning widely.

“I think she’s almost ready,” he whispered.

Rose caught his gaze and rested her hands over his. “I can’t wait to meet her,” she agreed. Then grimaced. “And I’m so ready for this pregnancy to be over.”

“Eleven months,” he said, eyebrow cocked. “Not as long as I expected.”

“Longer than I did,” she muttered. But she sighed and curled her arms around his neck, tugged him closer. “Have you decided on a name?”

Chagrined, the Doctor scrunched his face in consternation and tugged his ear. “I’m still debating the merits of each one.”

Rose nipped his lower lip. “I gave you my two choices. Said it was up to you to decide.” She poked his chest and grinned at his answering smile. “You better have an answer when she comes into this world. I am _not_ calling her Baby!”

“No,” he murmured against her mouth.

He pulled back and brought them to one of the many ledges lining the lagoon. Settling her against his front, her bum wiggling against his semi-hard cock, he leaned his head back on the slick stone and watched the ceiling.

“I ran from everything, Rose. Everything.” He stopped, sighed. “I never stopped running, not even when I met you.”

The Doctor ran his hands over her belly, cupped her breasts, slid his fingers down her sides. Needed the contact, the touch that flared their telepathy to brilliant life. Needed to simply feel her. Touch her. Love her.

“We ran together, but you terrified me. I wanted you so much, loved you so desperately.” He raised his head and pressed a lingering kiss to her temple. “Still do. But I can’t imagine what my life would be like if you hadn’t come into it.”

She half-turned, one hand on his cheek, the other between his hearts. “Doctor,” she whispered, a breath of understanding.

“I never thought I’d have another family. Didn’t want one until you. They hurt too much.”

He kissed her, then. Emotion pricked the back of his eyes, thumped heavily through his hearts. Burned along their bond with all the things he didn’t say enough. He ran his fingers over her marriage tattoos, felt the zap of electricity dance along his nerves.

“I love you.”

It seemed inadequate for the width and breadth of emotion, of love and need and _everything_ he felt for her. It encompassed all that and more.

“I love you, too, my Doctor.”

Rose turned around and leaned her head back on his chest. They sat like that for a long, long while. Just the two of them and their ship. Quiet and content and anticipating the next step in their lives. Not running, but waiting.

“Let’s find Jenny,” Rose eventually whispered. “Just the three of us. Let’s have a picnic or something, our little family. Before this one, here—” she took his hand and twined her fingers with his—“joins us.”

“I’d like that,” he whispered into her hair. “I’d like that very much.”

And as they exited the lagoon, the soft hum of the TARDIS a balm over his open and raw hearts, the Doctor made his decision. He knew what he wanted their daughter, their second born, named.

Aušra Susan.

He couldn’t wait to meet her.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Tyler Girls

“How are you feeling?”

Rose looked up from the face of her newborn daughter to the anxious one of her full grown daughter. Feeling light and motherly and soft and fragile, she held out her hand for Jenny. Her daughter took it, hesitatingly clasped her fingers in a loose grasped.

The Doctor kissed her temple. “I’ll bring you a drink,” he whispered.

Standing, he ran his hand down Jenny’s hair and left. The only sound of his departure was the soft swoosh of the closing door. Jenny watched him leave, her hand reaching halfway up to touch her hair before falling back to her side.

Rose tugged the sleeve of the Doctor’s shirt a little higher to leave her hands and wrists free. It was the only material she wanted against her skin after the birth—soft and large, it smelled like him and comforted her. Jenny immediately reached over and rolled the sleeve up, fingers careful around the sleeping babe.

Jenny was their last visitor—Martha assisted with the birth, and Donna and Jack hovered nervously during it. Jenny stayed to the side. And after Donna helped clean her up and the Doctor and Martha pronounced the baby perfect and Jack kissed both mother, father, and baby the three of them left.

And now, awkward and stiff and nervous, Jenny stepped forward.

The lights in their bedroom were dim, ambient and glowing like the light in the console room. Rose wondered if the TARDIS did that on purpose, as if She knew Rose and Aušra Susan enjoyed the delicate atmosphere so soon after birth.

“I feel like I could take on an entire platoon of Judoon,” she said with a soft laugh. “I’m sure that’ll change once my body remembers the pain, but right now I feel fantastic.”

Twenty hours of labor. Yeah, her body was going to remember that, despite the relief of the water birth. Everything would no doubt soon remember it _hurt_.

Jenny nodded and smiled, her hair, usually in a ponytail, lay soft and flowing over her shoulders. Her eyes, that blue-grey of the Doctor’s, watched her intently. With, Rose was startled to realize, the same intensity the Doctor used to watch her.

Not in a sexual way, of course, but Jenny watched her carefully. In that same intent, intense way the Doctor had. Studied her every move, her every breath, her every action. Studied her with single-minded concentration. As if afraid of Rose’s reaction.

“What’s wrong, love?” The endearment rolled off her tongue, natural and motherly.

She held back the gasp of pain and sorrow of missing her own mum. Rose didn’t want Jenny to think she did anything wrong. Their relationship was still far too new and tenuous. So she swallowed her pain and grief and tears, and turned her entire attention on her eldest daughter.

“I don’t know how to be a big sister,” Jenny blurted out.

Rose blinked. Damn. That was her fault. Hers and the Doctors. They’d been so busy with each other and the disappearing stars and getting ready for little Aušra Susan. The Doctor spent time teaching Jenny about her heritage and language, and Rose spent most of Jenny’s non-studying time (and her own non-napping time) getting to know her daughter.

It wasn’t enough.

“We haven’t had a chance to really bond,” Rose agreed. She squeezed Jenny’s hand and shifted on the bed. “Sit with me,” she offered.

Rose waited while Jenny situated herself, careful of jostling mother and baby. She held herself stiffly, not touching Rose or Aušra Susan. Rose bit back a sigh. This was her fault and she vowed to fix it. Starting now.

“Would you like to hold her?” Rose asked, voice pitched low and intimate. She didn’t want to scare Jenny.

Panicked, Jenny jerked back. “I don’t know how! That wasn’t information the machine downloaded when I was created. And I looked up everything I could on babies and taking care of them but there was all this information about their heads and necks and not holding too tight or too loose.”

She took a deep breath and Rose let her continue. Jenny was his daughter, all right. But it was also something Jenny seemed to need to get off her chest. And if there was anything Rose excelled at, it was listening to a Time Lord talk.

“Then there was their skull, and the bones there. Plus I read all these books on mother and baby bonding in the first weeks—”

Jenny snapped her mouth shut.

“Oh, Jenny,” Rose sighed and shifted closer.

Jenny remained rigid and scared, but Rose only moved Aušra Susan into one arm, careful not to wake the child. With her free hand, she twined her fingers with Jenny’s.

“We skipped that part, didn’t we?” Rose pushed the words past the lump of sorrow and love and regret clogging her throat. “We went straight to other things. That’s my fault,” she admitted. “I should’ve been a better mum.”

And therein lay the crux of her worst fear. That she’d be a rubbish mum. Apparently she already was.

She weighed each word carefully. Not to spare Jenny’s feelings, though she’d give anything to do so. But for honesty. She insisted on one thing when she and the Doctor talked about starting a family: _honesty_.

Never lie to their children either outright, by omission, or by deflection.

It was about time she started that herself.

“I think it’s easier to start from scratch. When they’re so tiny and helpless and they don’t have a life’s worth of information already in their brains.” Rose looked from Jenny to Aušra and back to her eldest daughter.

“I thought we might be friends. I’m not sure you need mothering; you don’t need to be fed or changed. You’re pretty self-sufficient with your studies.” She grinned, a quick smile. “And you aren’t dating yet.”

Rose sighed again, brought Jenny’s hand up to rest on the top of Aušra Susan’s head.

She waited a long, long minute until Jenny’s fingers relaxed, curled over the downy fuzz atop the baby’s head. Felt more than saw all the breath release from Jenny’s body and with it the tension and fear and uncertainty.

“You’re my daughter, Jenny.” Rose said the words with every ounce of conviction in her soul. “ _You’re my daughter._ And even though we now have Aušra Susan, I’ll be a better mum.”

Rose hoped she’d be able to have a mental bond with Jenny, but the Doctor was still evaluating Jenny’s telepathic abilities. Because of the machine and the incredible length of time it took Jenny to regenerate—and the fact she didn’t change like Time Lords normally did—he didn’t know if she had any telepathic capabilities.

“And I know the Doctor wants that bond, too.” Her words were still hesitant, carefully chosen. “Running, talking, always in motion Doctor? Everyone knows that man. He doesn’t show his other side often, the softer, quieter, gentler side.”

The side she fell in love with. The side she held when he thought himself a monster. When the nightmares choked him and clawed through his very soul. That Doctor wasn’t a man most knew. They never saw those times, the sobbing man after a nightmare or the terrified man when one of his loved ones was in danger.

“He knows a lot about Time Lords,” Jenny started. She licked her lips and swallowed. “And he’s a very good teacher,” she rushed to add.

Rose squeezed her hand. “He’s so excited to teach you. He wants to show you everything, you realize that, yeah?”

Jenny nodded, slow and uncertain, and Rose cursed again. She took a deep breath and offered a gentle smile instead.

“Not many realize how deeply the Doctor feels. He talks and says nothing, as I’m sure you’ve noticed by now.”

Jenny giggled, but her blue-grey eyes remained unsure.

“He loves the universe,” she said, starting large and working her way down. “Loves creation as a whole, but he loves his friends, his companions, his _family_ the deepest. He’s not very demonstrative or free with sincere words. But he feels. Passionately.”

Jenny’s eyes grew distant and she looked off to the side, staring blindly at something only she saw. Almost unwittingly, her hand reached up again to touch her hair.

“Sometimes,” Jenny began, voice a bare whisper. “Sometimes I think I can feel how happy he is I’m here. How much he loves me. I try to reach for it, but I can’t grab hold. It slips through my fingers and I think I’m wrong.”

“Jenny.” Rose stopped, swallowed.

Of all the post-birth conversations she thought she’d have, this was not one of them. Rose didn’t care—any honest conversation with Jenny was worth it.

“Do you mean in your mind?” She tried to temper her hope but knew tendrils slipped out. “You can feel him in your mind? Almost like a cresting wave or a tree caught in a breeze?”

Jenny looked at her oddly and slowly nodded. “Yes. I think I can sometimes feel you, too. Fainter, though.” She frowned. “I can’t feel the baby. I don’t know why.”

“She’s too young yet,” Rose managed.

Heart pounding, hope bubbling in her chest, she tentatively reached out and brushed her fingers over Jenny’s temple. She was definitely not the right parent to try this, but the Doctor hadn’t returned yet and Jenny trusted her enough to confide in her.

Rose was not going to mess this up.

“Can you feel me?” She pushed all her love and pride and hope for her eldest through, prayed it worked the same way as it did with the Doctor.

Thought of Jenny, focused on her and the overjoyed emotions she felt at having the other woman in her life. Of all the wonders in the universe she wanted to show Jenny and all the quiet times she wanted to share with her daughter.

Jenny shook her head then stopped. She jerked away from Rose’s touch and blinked owlishly. Slowly, the movement jumpy, she nodded instead.

“Like a breath,” she choked out. “Like you’re exhaling against my mind.”

Rose puffed out a laugh. “I’ve never heard it described that way, but yeah.” Tears pricked her eyes and thickened in her voice. “Yeah, that’s it. I’ll tell the Doctor. He’ll be thrilled to help you open your mind.”

She paused, but decided it was the Doctor’s right whether to tell Jenny—all their children—about the Time War. If they were to have a mental connection, they might accidently find memories of it.

Yes, it was best he be honest from the start. Rose doubted he’d see it that way, but the war was their legacy, too. They needed to know what sort of man their father was. A man who ended wars and saved people.

No matter the cost to himself.

Licking her lips, Rose shifted on the bed. Jenny relaxed, her hand still laid on the top of Aušra Susan’s head, but her breathing evened out and she didn’t hold her arms as taut as before. Good signs.

“Would you like to hold her?” she asked again. “I’m sure she’d love to know her big sister.”

Hesitating a breath, Jenny haltingly nodded. “If you’re sure.” The words were quiet, uncertain.

“I’m more than sure.”

Jenny took a deep breath and nodded once more. “I don’t know anything about being a daughter,” she whispered as Rose carefully transferred Aušra Susan into her arms. “And I know even less about being a friend.”

Eyes wide, mouth slightly ajar in amazement, Jenny looked from Rose to Aušra. Her eyes remained glued to the tiny girl. “She’s so tiny.”

Her arms flexed, just the once, and suddenly she relaxed. As if she held babies all the time and her previous fears and insecurities were no more than a bad dream.

“I’d like very much to be your friend, Jenny,” Rose said.

Pain tugged her limps and fatigue settled heavy around her. She wanted to close her eyes and sleep. Wrap herself and Aušra Susan in the Doctor’s arms and rest, knowing they were safe. Jenny was more important.

“I’d like that, too…Mum.”

Only then did Rose realize Jenny rarely addressed her as such. She spoke to Rose, they conversed and explored the TARDIS or Francine’s neighborhood. But after that first day, on Messaline and then in the med bay, Jenny hadn’t called Rose mum. She hadn’t called Rose anything directly.

That, too, was her fault.

Nibbling on her thumb nail, Rose frowned. What had she done? She’d been so caught up in pregnancy—and wanting it over—and the Doctor and getting the spa ready with Donna, she’d forgotten her firstborn.

“She opened her eyes.” Jenny looked down in awe, her own eyes even wider, if possible. “She’s watching me.”

Rose suppressed a yawn and smiled. “Of course she is, love. She knows you’re her big sister. And you’re going to see the universe together.”

Just then Winston leaped onto the bed. Instead of curling next to (or on top of) Rose, he stretched himself over Jenny’s lap, just below Aušra Susan. Rose blinked at the unusual turn of events. But then her heart thudded hard in her chest at the sight.

Even Winston knew. Yes. Best big sister in the world. Rose closed her eyes and smiled. Her little family.

********  
“You’ve seen my breasts before, Doctor,” Rose whispered.

Aušra Susan was finally feeding. It was a relief to both her and the baby, and especially Daddy who patiently rubbed Rose’s spine and whispered Gallifreyan endearments to the both of them as she encouraged Aušra to latch on.

“Yes, and they’re lovely, very beautiful breasts,” he agreed in an equally quiet voice. He did not look up from the feeding babe, however. “But this is the first time I’ve seen you breastfeed my daughter.”

Rose smiled, but her gaze remained riveted on the newborn. “Speaking of our daughters,” she said in what she considered a brilliant segue, considering she gave birth only hours before. “Jenny’s afraid she isn’t fitting in. We’ve—no… _I’ve_ been a bad mum.”

“Rose,” he said in that patiently exasperated voice he perfected. Probably in his first body. The Doctor scrubbed a hand down his face. “Her, ah, birth wasn’t exactly conventional.”

“I know.” But the words tasted hollow on her tongue. “You haven’t tested her for telepathy yet, have you?”

He gave her his patented _We’ve discussed this already_ look but slowly, as her words truly sank in, his expression changed. Changed from scrunched up frustration to wide-eyed interest.

“No.” He ran his hand through his hair, making the already wild strands stick up in even wilder ways. “I kept putting it off. My fault.” His gaze drilled into her. “ _Why?_ Did something happen?”

“I think it should be your priority.” Rose inhaled deeply of the scent of baby and Doctor and slowly released it. A smile played around her lips. “Talk to Jenny, I can’t explain what happened, but I think she senses _something_. Just doesn’t know how to focus it.”

Still watching her in amazement, he nodded. “As soon as you and Aušra Susan fall asleep.”

The moment he said it, Rose saw how tired he looked. His normally pale face looked even paler and his freckles stood starkly out. She wanted to trace them, as she often did when they lay in bed, quiet and together. 

He looked as exhausted as she felt. The water birth was far easier than she expected, especially considering neither Rose nor the Doctor thought drugs were a good idea. They didn’t know what effect any pain suppressants would have on her altered DNA and even less of an idea on Aušra Susan’s mixed DNA.

But it still took a lot out of her.  
And him.

“You’re exhausted, too. Maybe not test Jenny tonight. It’s important, but can wait one more day.”

Aušra Susan, eyes closed, mouth open, let out a snuffling snore. The Doctor stared, awestruck. But then he shook his head and waited while Rose burped the baby.

“Why don’t you lie down?” he asked. “Sleep.” He reached for Aušra and gently, carefully, slowly, lifted her into his own arms. “I’ll hold her.”

Rose blinked open eyes she didn’t realize she closed. “Will you hold me, too?”

_“Always, my hearts.”_ He told her in Gallifreyan.

The Doctor repositioned himself on the bed. One arm about the sleeping baby, the other around Rose. _“Sleep, my love. I’ll hold you forever.”_

********  
Jenny studied her party list as thoroughly as she did her Gallifreyan.

Mum and Dad spent the previous five days in their room with Aušra Susan. Uncle Jack and Aunt Martha returned to work at UNIT, and Aunt Donna went off to interview UNIT approved applicants for their spa venture.

That left her. And Winston, of course. And dinner every night with Grandma Francine who also helped with the party planning. No one planned a party like Grandma Francine. Unless it was Aunt Doris. The two of them together kept Jenny in awe.

And maybe a little intimidated.  
Just a little.

But the party, to be held in the TARIS Jenny decided, was well underway. Seven days after Aušra Susan’s birth even though Jenny thought their little family needed more bonding time.

Theirs.

She quite liked the sound of that. Their family. Her family. Her family with mental bonds and physical bonds and small moments she didn’t know existed.

Like the time Aušra Susan spit up all over the Doctor right after he fed her. Jenny laughed, unable not to, and Mum soon joined in. The regurgitated milk covered Dad’s brown Henley and blue pinstripe pants but miraculously missed the burb cloth. And the Chucks.

No one else witnessed that, only the four of them and a new warmth spread through Jenny. That day it made her hearts flip and her pulse pound dizzyingly in her head. Even now the memory made her smile and that same fuzzy warmth rushed through her veins.

Acceptance and hope and love and belonging.

But she also knew the rest of their family chafed at being kept away. Grandma Francine’s hints about seeing the baby were edging closer to orders (possibly threats) than wistfulness.

Jenny didn’t even answer Uncle Jack’s phone calls any more. (His last text message, this morning, threatened to break down the TARDIS door.)

Aunt Martha was no better. And Aunt Donna, though insisting she understood, ranked right up there with Grandma Francine.

So, with two days left before she saw the rest of her family again, Jenny reviewed her lists. She had no idea she was a list woman, but it didn’t surprise either of her parents. Mum laughed and Dad looked sheepish. She supposed she took after Dad in this, then.

Food-check. Grandma Francine and Aunt Doris helped with that. They each had a surprisingly extensive list of caterers. After much consultation (and three taste tests which were fantastic!) Jenny decided on Sharpe’s. They had the best crab cakes and the most delicious and decadent chocolate cake in existence.

Jenny thought it might be alien chocolate, but couldn’t prove it.

_“se…”_

Jenny jerked at the unexpected sound. So lost in her thoughts and plans, she hadn’t realized her parents left their rooms. But the kitchens were empty and other than the faint hot, dry breeze wafting through the open windows and ruffling the curtains, there was no other movement save her.

“Hello?” Nothing. “Dad? Mum?” Still nothing.

If the TARDIS let anyone else in, she’d have heard them. And the TARDIS, faint though their connection felt at the moment, would’ve alerted her.

She shook her head. Her lists and plans had been her sole focus for days, maybe she needed a break.

After she finished double-checking everything.

Decorations-check. The TARDIS changed a gigantic room into a brilliant display of the Mutter’s Spiral (After much searching, Jenny wanted the Medusa Cascade, but the ship absolutely refused.) that made the ceiling and walls disappear and look as if everyone walked through the galaxy.

She and Mum spent hours going through photos. Family photos with Grandma Jackie and Uncle Mickey. Family photos with Aunt Martha and Uncle Jack. More with Aunt Donna and even Winston (who showed up for an hour or so and curled into Mum’s lap and purred contentedly.)

While Mum, Dad, and little Aušra Susan bonded over feedings and every spare waking moment, Jenny carefully removed each photo from their protective covers and attached them to the wall. She didn’t know how they attached to the walls, didn’t know if all photos simply came with that ability. But the room was now bathed in Mutter’s Spiral and family photos.

Guest list-check. It was surprisingly extensive, much like everything else for this party. Grandma Francine and Aunt Doris shared their list from Mum’s baby shower. She invited Aunt Donna’s gramps, no matter what the redhead said. And Jenny talked with Aunt Martha and decided to add Professor Malcolm Taylor, and Captain Erisa Magambo from UNIT as well as General Winifred Bambera and her husband Ancelyn. 

She tapped the pen against the table. Did she miss anything? Anyone? She’d gone over the list a dozen times. More. The food was being delivered to Grandma Francine’s and they’d simply have to carry it inside.

Jenny looked down at the papers and frowned.

She was missing her Mum’s family. But they were in another universe and even Dad, wonderful as he was, couldn’t punch through the walls. Though, Jenny thought with a wide smile and bubbly laugh. Her mum managed to do so and return here.

But no, there was no other way. No additional holes, not even the one Mum used to jump through. Dad showed her the calculations, his scans, and though Jenny thought on it and studied his data, and they had so many discussions and debates over it, she hadn’t another idea.

“What are you working on?”

Jenny yelped. She whirled in her chair and glared at her father. He carried Aušra Susan in a protective embrace and looked happy and relaxed.

It didn’t take Jenny long before she realized her dad dressed in layers. Mum eventually told her it was because of his touch telepathy and he didn’t like accidently rubbing against people. Today he dressed in a button down shirt, sleeves rolled just passed his elbows and his blue pinstriped trousers.

Red Chucks, but no jacket, no tie. It was his preference when it was only family. And that reminder made Jenny flush with giddy happiness.

“Party plans,” Jenny said, her hearts slowing. “I might move the party up by a day just so no one breaks down the doors!”

Dad grinned, that wide, pleased one she only now realized he reserved for family. Their family. Her family.

“Oh.” He made a slow circuit around the kitchens, gently bouncing the baby. “The assembled hoards of Genghis Khan couldn’t get through that door, and believe me, they’ve tried.”

Jenny tilted her head. “Genghis Khan?”

“Mongolian warlord. I’ll take you to see him.” He frowned. “On second thought, no. He still wants my head. And I don’t fancy explaining that to your mum.”

She snickered then stilled.

_“…ss…”_

Jenny strained her hearing, but the sound didn’t come again. Was it a voice? An echo? She couldn’t tell, didn’t know how to describe it. But Dad didn’t seem to hear it. Maybe she imagined it? She had spent considerable time alone lately.

Sure, she met with Grandma Francine and Aunt Doris, but considering she didn’t need much sleep, Jenny spent an awful lot of time alone in the library or here in the kitchens.

She shook it off and stood. “Tea?”

“Please.” He continued his walk around the kitchens, a slow pace that rocked Aušra Susan who cooed and blew bubbles. “This one refuses to sleep.”

“Who can sleep?” Jenny asked as she retrieved his preferred mug from the cabinet. “There’s so much to see and do, to learn and read and feel.”

“Exactly!” He beamed at her and his eyes lightened. He picked the baby up by her waist and held her face-level, careful of her neck. “So we’ll spend time with your big sister and maybe teach you the fine art of tea making. What do you say, Aušra Susan? Up for a little tea?”

“Mum sleeping?” Jenny asked.

It worried Jenny how much her mum slept, but both she and Dad assured her it was normal after birth. And, Dad had sighed, a far off look in his eyes, normal for a human.

Jenny didn’t understand that, but it was on her list of topics to research on her own. (And maybe ask Aunt Martha about.) The TARDIS offered to help and she didn’t want either of her parents to know of her search. Not just yet.

“Here you go, Dad.”

Jenny handed him the mug and joined him in his pacing around the kitchen. She liked the movement, he was right—it took more energy to stay still than it did to run.

“Let’s show Aušra Susan the gardens,” she said abruptly. “I want to walk in the sunshine.”

“Brilliant!” He looked down at the babe and grinned. “Your sister is absolutely brilliant, isn’t she!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aušra is Lithuanian and means dawn. I don't know how to really pronounce it, nowhere I looked as an audio of it. The best I've found it Wiki: ɐuʃˈrɐ but that tells me pretty much nothing--I never understood the pronunciation key. But it looks beautiful, means what I want it to mean for story purposes, and in my head I pronounce it: Awsra. I'm probably wrong. I admit this.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rose and her Doctors

The day before the big party, Rose settled Aušra Susan in the baby sling she finally managed to secure properly. She traced a finger softly down the girl’s cheek and smiled at the bright-eyed baby. Aušra watched her with her own brandy colored eyes, and though she was currently bald, Rose suspected she’d have the Doctor’s wild brown hair.

Taking a deep breath, Rose checked her appearance—loose-fitting black trousers and a loose capped-sleeved green top with a V neckline. Purposely chosen to show off her marriage tattoos and pendant. And, all right, hide her baby belly. She was a little self-conscious about it, natural part of maternity or not.

Today was her first foray out of their rooms since Aušra’s birth. But she wanted to look perfect. Not for the Doctor, who stayed with her and saw her at every stage of her pregnancy.

For her other Doctor.

Her stomach flipped at the thought of what she was about to suggest. She didn’t know if it was a wise suggestion or a particularly safe one. But it was necessary, Rose thought. Deep inside her, she knew it was necessary.

Rose swallowed hard and despite her lingering aches, knew today was the day to do this.

She thought a lot about it and despite the potential for calamity, felt she at least needed to ask if it were possible. Jack gave her the idea when Jenny first stepped from the machine all blonde-haired and blue-eyed. It swam at the back of her mind, persistent and firm for all she tried to dismiss it.

It was mad and dangerous and more than a little selfish, but the more she thought about it, the more Rose realized she needed to do it. Not for the Doctor (either of them) but for herself.

“Am I being selfish?” she asked her little girl. Aušra merely stared mutely back at her. “I am, aren’t I. Is this so _I_ feel better? So _I_ know I did something? Or is this for him?”

Aušra Susan blinked up at her, but still offered no answers. Rose didn’t know what the answer was, either. Maybe the Doctor would. Or Jenny. Because if they did this, if they crossed over multiple timelines and landed this TARDIS in Her past self, Rose wanted Jenny there.

Wasn’t that one half of the entire point?

Rose settled the second half of the point, Aušra Susan, more firmly in the baby sling, adjusted it once more around her body, and took a deep breath. She pulled her thumb from her mouth, wiped the bitten cuticle on her loose trousers, and left the bedroom.

Jenny and the Doctor were in the console room. It was Jenny’s daily lesson on piloting the TARDIS as a single pilot. The Doctor already grew one for Aušra Susan, but now with Jenny here, he planned to give that one to their eldest. He already laid the groundwork for Aušra’s TARDIS.

Rose had a feeling the TARDIS accelerated the growth of Her offspring, despite the Doctor’s firm belief (and most likely hope) a TARDIS took centuries to grow. She also had a feeling the ship added certain tethers so She could always track both their children.

It made Rose smile, a warm surge of love and affection for the time ship.

The Time Rotor pulsed just as she entered—Rose knew it wasn’t because of what the pair of Time Lords did, but in acknowledgement of Rose’s thoughts. She brushed her hand down one of the coral struts in affection.

At the sight of the Doctor and Jenny dancing around the TARDIS and laughing as they pressed buttons and turned dials, Rose’s carefully planned speech deserted her. Smiling at her family, she took a moment to watch them, the Doctor shouted orders and corrections and Jenny insisted there was an easier desktop he could use.

“Nonsense,” he insisted and grinned wider when he saw her. He ran the few steps separating them and carefully gathered her in his arms.

“Missed you,” he whispered and kissed her softly.

Aušra Susan gurgled and he laughed down at her. “And you, too, little one.”

God, he looked so happy. Alive. Unburdened by pain or nightmares. His daughters brought this aliveness to him, this contagious joy. A jolt of jealousy slammed through Rose and caused the Doctor to peer worriedly at her.

“All right?” he whispered, the pad of his thumb brushing along her temple.

“Yeah.” She licked her lips and cleared her throat. “Yeah. Fine.”

Rose shook her head to dispel the stabbing jealousy. She wanted this for him since they met. Now that he had it, now that he was so, _so_ happy, she was jealous? Of her own children?

She smiled, forced it wider until it felt natural. “Yeah, Doctor,” she whispered and tilted her head against his palm. “I’m fine.”

And she spoke the truth. The jealousy was momentary; Rose wanted nothing more than for him to live with some semblance of peace.

“Can I pilot Her to UNIT?” Jenny asked from where she leaned against the console. And just like her dad, she crossed her arms over her chest, sneaker-clad feet crossed at the ankles. “Just a little hop?”

“Sure,” the Doctor said and pressed his lips to Rose’s once more. “I don’t see why not.”

His fingers slid over her bare arms, across her tattoos and he frowned in confusion. She never showed them unless they were alone. They were personal, intensely private between them.

“Actually, Doctor, I wanted to talk to you.” Rose paused. Licked her lips and drew a deep breath. Now or never. “About a trip.”

“Sure!” But he still frowned. His fingers continued to brush along her arms, trace over her tattoos. He glanced down at her bare skin in silent question. “You feel up to it?”

Rose knew her tiredness still pulsed over their bond, and her achiness. Her body mostly recovered from the labor, but returning to her pre-pregnancy levels—in body, blood count, and hormones along with everything else—was another story. However, she nodded firmly.

There was no use lying to him, so she didn’t bother. But she was determined and that, too, must’ve shone through.

“I want to see you just after Kyoto and before—” she stopped, licked her lips again. His face slowly changed and she pushed the words past the lump in her throat though she knew he understood. “Before the Game Station.”

“Rose.” It was a sigh, a breath. Fear and understanding and heartbreak all at once. “You want to show me Aušra Susan?”

Rose shook her head. “I want to show you Jenny _and_ Aušra. _Both_ our children”

“Why then?” He ran a hand through is hair, making it stand on end. “It’s a very specific time.”

She shot him a telling look. He already knew. He had to. If she calculated the best time, he had to know as well.

“It’s the only time between when I started traveling with you, when we started our relationship, and…” Rose cleared her throat.

Her breath caught and she tried again. No matter what she did, the lump of memory and love and loss refused to dislodge. She expected that, she had.

“And _then_ ,” she finished on a bare whisper. “And I know you have at least two minutes alone here in the console before I joined you again.”

The Doctor slowly nodded. But he didn’t say anything. Rose knew it was partly because his massive brain calculated odds and vectors and materialization to the Planck second. And partly because her request was massive.

“Am I being selfish?” she asked. Rose bit her lower lip and swallowed. “Do I want this because _I_ want it? Or is it a good idea? Or at least,” she sighed, exasperated with her whirling thoughts, “a not too terrible idea?”

“It’s a not terrible idea,” he repeated with a faint smile that barely reached his eyes.

No, he watched her with concern and something else Rose couldn’t place.

His head tilted from side to side and his eyebrows followed suit—one head tilt to the left, right eyebrow raised; head tilt to the right, left eyebrow raised.

“Do you think—” She stopped. Bit her lower lip again. One hand cupped Aušra’s bottom though the sling held her stably. The other twisted her earing.

“Do you think you’d want to see them? Our children? Or do you think it’d be too hard? If we do this, will you know? Will you realize why we’re there? Would it ruin your future? Even though there’ll be two of you, because we’re _inside_ the TARDIS, I don’t think it’ll cause a Reaper paradox.”

The memory of Reapers settled cold and terrifying in her veins. Rose shook her head and tried to dispel the memory of the Doctor being eaten by one of the creatures. She still had nightmares over that. And her role in ending the world.

And though her next words were hopeful, Rose tried to also convey her understanding. She knew what’d happen if it all went wrong. But she licked her lips and couldn’t stop herself. “Right? I mean that was a changed moment in time, I changed…and there were two of us, but because I changed…the event,” she managed and had to stop.

She was a big girl, she could admit her mistakes.

“Because there were two of us and I saved my dad,” she whispered, voice tight with the memory. “Because I changed the future and there was a thin point because there were two sets of us, that’s what caused the Reapers to appear. Yes?”

The Doctor closed his eyes, pain etched on his face. A clash of emotions rushed through their bond but one stood out. Desperation. He wanted that—wanted to see their children.

The two minute window she proposed was specific for a reason. In Kyoto they talked of a future. They talked of a family. _Their_ future, _their_ family. And he wanted it, desired that with her so badly, with every beat of his hearts and deep, deep in his soul.

Any sooner in their timeline and Rose feared it’d change something. What, she didn’t know, but utterly refused to take that chance. Even if he forgot the visit—as he’d have to and as she knew he had/would—Rose refused to chance it. She didn’t want to change one minute with him. There was no later.

Not with her first Doctor.

“No, no paradox. That was a thin moment in time,” he said, eyes distant, hands still caressing her tattoos. “You mean to set the TARDIS inside the past TARDIS, yes?”

Rose nodded, fingers twisting her earring. She looked over the Doctor’s shoulder to Jenny, who watched them with curious eyes but remained quiet.

“I think,” he whispered, voice low and rough, “the TARDIS will do it. Land inside herself. But it’ll hurt and I think it’ll be harder on you than _you_ think.” He sighed and laced their fingers together. “But it’s doable.”

“That’s not what I asked,” Rose snapped. Terror made her voice harsher than she wanted. “Do I want this because I want to show you our future or am I being selfish in wanting to see you again?”

“Rose, you don’t understand. Even after all this time.” He shook his head.

But then his smile changed to fondness. And it reached his eyes, lighting them with all the love and devotion he felt for her. His fingers brushed over her tattoos and Rose knew he now understood why she bared them today.

“Rose, I’d change the universe for another minute with you.”

“Doctor.” The word felt thick on her tongue and tears choked her. Rose blinked and tried to smile but the best she managed was to tighten her grip on his hand and press her lips to his.

“Don’t destroy anything,” she whispered, each word heavy with what she asked of him despite the light tone she tried for.

“I’ll never destroy this,” he promised. 

Then he spun around and faced Jenny. Their eldest watched keenly during their exchange, but Rose knew she was confused. Confused and oddly excited, as if she knew what they planned and couldn’t wait.

“Jenny, my dear!” the Doctor shouted, once more all frenetic energy. “Get ready for the trickiest landing you’ll ever do!”

 ********  
The sound of his TARDIS materializing when he very clearly stood _inside_ his TARDIS sent a bolt of fear through his hearts. He’d materialized his TARDIS next to his TARDIS several times. Had even accidently walked into a younger TARDIS. (Never telling Rose that, she’d never let him live that down.)

The Doctor reached for his sonic even as his mind reached through his bond with the ship.

The TARDIS, brilliant machine She was, merely hummed in satisfaction. And then the blue police public call box appeared in the far corner off the right of the doors as if She always appeared there.

Inside Herself.

The Doctor pointed his sonic at the doors. Just in case. Because, really, this was unprecedented even for him. Meet up with a past body? Sure, no problem. Happened on a distressing number of occasions.

Not since the Time War, of course, but his theory on that involved the Time Lock and really. He didn’t want to think about that.

The door opened and Rose stepped out. The sonic wavered.

Then he noticed a small bundle hidden in a cloth sling around her body. His fingers went slack.

He caught a glimpse of Rose’s arms—the Gallifreyan marriage tattoos. His mouth fell open. His hearts faltered.

Behind her another woman emerged, all tentative smiles and wide-eyed curiosity. The sonic clattered to the grating.

“Rose?”

Her smile blossomed from tentative and concerned to full blown, raw joy. Frozen to the spot as he was, awaiting _his_ Rose to emerge from their bedroom, the woman before him had no such trouble. She crossed the distance in quick strides, one hand protectively beneath the babe.

“We only have a couple minutes,” she whispered.

But then she wrapped her arms around him and buried her face in his neck and it was so familiar, so right, the Doctor automatically drew her close, careful of the babe, and hugged her back. She smelled the same as he remembered.

Enhanced, perhaps, with the scent of the child and pregnancy, and an almost ethereal trace of _time_. But still the same. Still his. His Rose.

They survived 1336 Kyoto, where he spent their nights making love to her. Where he slipped into her mind for the first time. Where he vowed to ask her to marry him as soon as they escaped.

Apparently he asked. And they married. The tattoos were obvious and Rose clearly wore the green top to show them off. Oh. And the Gallifreyan Marriage Pendant he wanted to give her.

The Doctor drew back. “What are you doing here?”

The gruff words tumbled out before he could stop them, rushed and heavy and carried so much hope and wonder.

Rose took his hand and a tear splashed down her cheek. He raised his other hand and lightly ran his fingers along the smoothness of her skin. Caught her tears.

“I wanted you to meet our family.” She swallowed hard and the Doctor swore he felt her brush against his mind. “This little one is Aušra Susan. She’s only six days old.”

If Time Lords gawked, yup that’s what the Doctor did. Rose lifted the slumbering child from the sling and ran a delicate finger over her cheek. The baby’s eyes fluttered open and they looked exactly like Rose’s. So much like hers, his hearts clenched and his Advance Time Lord lungs seized.

“She looks just like you,” he managed.

Another tear slipped down her cheek and she hastily wiped it away. That was when he noticed the ring. She wore the ring he planned on giving her and the pendant he still searched for. Symbols of her culture and his.

Symbols he wanted her to wear when he proposed spending the rest of her life with him. When he promised to love her for the rest of his. After all, they could live out their lives with him in this one body.

He’d love her until his final regeneration.

The Doctor swallowed hard. He glanced at the other TARDIS, but while the door remained open, the other him didn’t exit. Just as well, he supposed. No need for jealousy. Or more questions that couldn’t be answered.

This was a gift and though many might say he was a fool, the Doctor was not so foolish to ignore this chance.

“Mum.” The other woman, stepped closer. “Only a minute left.”

Rose nodded and swallowed heavily. “And this is Jenny Donna. Our eldest daughter.”

Christ, she looked exactly like he pictured their daughter looking. _Exactly._ He didn’t care Rose dyed her hair blonde. He always pictured their daughter as blonde haired and blue-eyed. The Doctor wondered if that was why she looked exactly so—had he manipulated the genetics?

“We have girls,” he said. “We have two beautiful girls.”

Questions and wonder and hope and a universe’s worth of it danced over his tongue. But all he felt was Rose’s hand in his and all he saw was his beautiful wife and their marvelous children. It pulsed through him, love and acceptance and—oh.

Yes, well that did make sense didn’t it? If they married of course they bonded more than the simple bit he did in Kyoto.

He mentally reached out for Jenny and felt the faintest breath in return, almost like a shy wave. She smiled tentatively at him and stepped awkwardly closer. As if she wanted to hug him.

The Doctor cleared his throat. But this woman was his daughter. Before he could stop himself, or remember his lack of affectionate displays with anyone other than Rose, the Doctor closed the two steps between him and Jenny and hugged her. Enveloped her tight in his arms.

He felt her breath hitch as her arms wound around him and she hugged him tightly. Over their faint bond he felt-heard-sensed a single word.

_Dad._

“Jenny,” he said aloud, unused to opening himself, his mind, to another. Apparently he had practice in the future.

(A future he refused to think about. Not now, with his beautiful family in front of him. A future Rose and the future him thought he needed to see. The Doctor didn’t think on why that was. He only felt.

Lived in this one single moment.)

He stepped back and looked between his three girls. The self-consciously confident Jenny who watched him with wide eyes. The gurgling Aušra Susan who blinked sleepily up at him. And Rose. His Rose. 

“I love you,” Rose whispered.

She pressed her lips together and another tear slipped down her cheek. His fingers caught it and brushed it away. He hated to see her cry.

“Don’t forget that, yeah?” she said, voice thick with those tears. “I love you. Always. And we have a fantastic life.”

He kissed her then. Tangled his hand in her hair and held her still as he savored her love and her tears and her glorious taste on his tongue. The other hand rested on Aušra Susan’s head. _Susan._ His breath hitched and he pulled away. 

Jenny wrapped her arms around him and squeezed tight one final time.

 _“I’ll take care of them, Dad,”_ she whispered in Old High Gallifteyan. _“I’ll always make sure they’re safe.”_

The whispered words of his language washed over him and he nodded. He hastily blinked back his own tears and sniffed.

“See you do,” he admonished her. But then he winked and brushed his fingers over her cheek. His daughter.

“We have to go, Mum,” Jenny said.

Rose nodded but she didn’t move. “I love you,” she told him again.

He bent and pressed his lips to Aušra Susan’s forehead. His children. His children with Rose.

Then he looked up and kissed her, a small, simple kiss he hoped conveyed the depth of need he had for this woman, this wonderful woman who opened his hearts and made him want to live again and showed him the universe even as he promised to show its wonders to her.

“I’ll lock it away,” he promised though she hadn’t asked about this memory. This crossing of timelines. “I’ll keep you safe in my hearts no matter what happens.”

Her breath hitched and she swallowed hard. She opened her mouth to speak but no words emerged. Jenny took her hand and tugged. It was a light touch, gentle, but Rose nodded.

“We’re happy,” she promised. “Very happy. We’re a family.”

“That’s all I ever wanted.”

Without another word, she turned and walked to the second TARDIS. At the door, she looked at him again and very clearly, very precisely, he felt her over a bond he barely created in his time.

_You’re my everything._

She promised in Gallifreyan. 

The Doctor watched the TARDIS dematerialize, the corner She stood in for barely two minutes now unnaturally empty. With wet eyes, he turned to his own Time Rotor. She hummed with smugness and pride and love, and the Doctor had no words.

For once in his life he had no words.

Instead he bent to pick up his sonic, tucked it back in his jacket, and leaned over the console. Pressed his hand to the rotor. Warmth and love and a millennium of affection and shared history and grief washed over him.

“Doctor?”

His Rose (they were both his) walked into the console room. Freshly showered and dressed, she grinned happily up at him. He pushed the past few minutes to the back of his mind and locked them behind a distant door.

Tight in his hearts.

Then Rose was in his arms and her mouth kissed his and his arms held her tight as he backed her to the railing.

“Hmm,” she hummed. “No Jack? We can finish what you started in the shower.”

“Rose Tyler.” He grinned against her neck and nipped at the sensitive area of her shoulder. _Marry me._ The words clamored for escape but the Doctor wanted to ask her right.

With ring and pendant and them, just them. No threat of Jack’s return.

It wasn’t until he pressed Rose against the coral and her mouth touched his, just as the last locks on his two minute memory snapped closed that he realized. Rose wouldn’t have crossed timelines just to show him their children. _He_ wouldn’t have done something so stupid, so dangerous just to show himself their daughters.

Unless he wasn’t going to be there. Not this him. Not with this daft face.

“I love this face,” Rose whispered against his mouth. Her hands wrapped around his shoulders and she pressed tight against him.

“What?” the Doctor asked. He pulled back just enough to see her.

But her brandy eyes shone brightly with all the love and affection they shared. And she pulled him back for a kiss. And with her body so tight against his and her mouth lazily roaming over his, he forgot what he said.

It probably wasn’t important anyway.

“Hey, starting without me?” Jack said in a case of Worst Timing Ever.

The Doctor growled and Rose shivered in his arms.

“Doctor,” she sighed, so soft he knew only he heard her.

“Where to next?” he asked and spun toward the controls.

“Pizza Planet?” Jack asked. “I’m starving. All that running from angry soldiers worked up an appetite.”

“Pizza Planet, here with come!”

They never made it…instead he woke with a pounding head in a strange room and the life he finally wrestled back on some semblance of a track disintegrated before his eyes in a single word.

_Exterminate._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for reading! I hope you're enjoying Rose and the Doctor's continuing journey. 
> 
> The next story is _Turn Left:_ The timelines are rippling away and Rose and the Doctor are caught between “Hello Sweetie” and “Donna Noble, you’re the most important woman in the whole of creation. If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t be there.”
> 
> Yes, Jenny and Aušra are present, but it's still very much a Ten x Rose story with loads of romance, smut, and family.


End file.
